Grandview's Greg Bird awaits MLB draft, braces for decision

The slugging catcher weighs a move to pro ball or a college offer.

Greg Bird signed with Arkansas but can choose to enter pro baseball after a senior season in which he hit .553 with 12 homers and 38 RBIs.
(Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

As the start of the Major League Baseball draft approached Monday, Colorado's top high school prospect — catcher Greg Bird of Grandview High School — was in the Los Angeles area, getting ready to play his first game for Team Vegas of the California Collegiate League.

Bird said he was "99 percent" sure he wouldn't be claimed among the 60 choices made Monday night — 33 in the first round, then 27 more in the compensation round. And he turned out to be right, meaning he likely will be taken sometime today, when teams race through rounds 2-30, or possibly Wednesday, when the draft concludes with rounds 31-50.

Bird, who moved to the Denver area with his family from Memphis when he was in elementary school, tentatively is ticketed to play for the University of Arkansas this fall. Yet he has the allowable "adviser," player agent Brody Schofield of Legacy Sports, as he ponders the postdraft landscape, including how lucrative the offer would have to be to get him to sign and forsake college.

"We're still kind of weighing that," Bird said. "There's not a specific dollar figure. We're going to weigh the options, I guess, and see what happens. It's not definite either way."

If he doesn't sign and goes to Arkansas, he won't be eligible to be drafted again until after his junior season.

Bird was named Colorado's Gatorade High School player of the year after he hit .553, with 12 home runs and 38 RBIs for Grandview, which was the top seed in the 5A postseason before the Wolves were knocked out in district play.

Bird and Regis Jesuit pitcher/outfielder Connor McKay are considered the top draft-eligible Colorado high school seniors this season. McKay, who is committed to the University of Kansas if he goes the college route, is coming off knee surgery that prevented him from playing for the eventual 5A state champions until late in the season.

After battling a case of strep throat last week, Bird joined Team Vegas. After he plays several games in Southern California over the next few days, the plan is for Bird to head to Las Vegas, where he and Grandview second baseman Jarod Smith will live with a host family and get more experience with — among other things — wood bats in the summer league competition.

"I'm just hoping to get good competition, play in warm weather and enjoy myself," Bird said. "I think it's good to swing wood, and I enjoy it. It teaches you how to hit more. You have to hit it in the sweet spot. You don't get any cheap hits."

Bird said he chose Arkansas as his potential collegiate destination "because I wanted the small-town feel, I wanted the SEC, and my sister lives in Tulsa, which is fairly close. I liked the coaches, and the town's awesome."

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